Phoebe
History Like Mr Tuttle, Phoebe was introduced a few months into the show’s run and is only encountered by ‘executive’ ticket holders, who enter the building through a smaller, more intimate entrance on London Street. Appearance Loop - Basic Loop - Extended Executives enter the Executive Cloakroom, a small space sparsely furnished with a table and chairs. There are 1960s magazines and low lighting. After checking in, audience members are led through a maze of props from the studios. They enter a large wood-panelled room with a baize green carpet. In the centre is a circular table with a dozen wooden chairs. The table is littered with source materials, including copies of ‘Woyzeck’ and ‘The Day of the Locust’. There’s books of photographs from the 1960s. There’s an image of dancing girls in a tawdry dressing room and another showing the car crash that killed James Dean. Behind the table are two headless mannequins, dressed as William and Mary, sitting on pyramids of woodchips. There’s a tray of shots on a table. A glamorous studio administrator enters the room. She’s wearing a pressed cream blouse and smart black trousers. She speaks in clipped RP, as if she’s stepped out of a BBC news report. Her name is Phoebe and she invites the audience to sit around the table. In Greek mythology, Phoebe was ‘radiant, bright, prophetic’ and traditionally associated with the moon. She was one of the original Titans. Phoebe offers everyone a shot of vodka. She briefly describes ‘Woyzeck’ and the inspiration behind ‘The Drowned Man’. She places a wooden box on the table containing miniature figures from the show. She explains that there are two worlds to explore, one controlled by The Dust Witch and the other ruled over by Mr Stanford. She describes an area in the Basement called the ‘Drafting Room’. Everyone is given a ‘Studio Pass’ to wear around their necks, that functions as a key-card to open the door after 8:15 pm. As her introduction continues, the lights gradually get dimmer. Phoebe pauses and stares ahead. Her arms stretch out in front of her and magically her chair slides backwards. She sits immobile like a broken toy, in total darkness. The lights come back on and Phoebe has been replaced by the ghostly figure of The Dust Witch. She rises from her seat and rips off her shawl to reveal a suited Mr Stanford. He’s wearing the skin mask from ‘Frankie’s Initiation’. He cries out and climbs onto the table, terrifying the people around it. The audience members stare at him and he surveys each of them in turn. A light appears behind them and Phoebe is standing in the doorway, cradling the wooden box in her hands. She peers out over the lid. The box is glowing and her twisted face is illuminated by the light shining from inside. She booms out a sinister warning in the voice of Mr Stanford – ‘Remember, we live inside a dream’. Everyone is led to a lift lobby where they join the rest of the audience in the queue for the lift. The Drafting Room in the Basement is the engine room for the whole building. It’s full of folders and information relating to the sets and actors at the studio. There are files on each of the cast describing their early character development. The Fool is referred to as ‘The Clown’ and The Dust Witch as the ‘Veiled Woman’ who is ‘closest to God’. There’s a note about a cult, a document about Rorshach tests and a copy of ‘Woyzeck’. There’s a plastic mould to make chess pieces and a note that reads, ‘NEED TO BUY MORE FLOWERS FOR LAST SCENE’. There’s a clipboard hanging above Phoebe’s desk. It lists the personal effects of some of the characters. George Buchanan is listed and against his name it says, ‘Item: Coat. Location: Ice Palace’. Across a wall is a large wooden board with the names of all the characters down one side, and the location and description of each of their twelve scenes across the top. The tent where Dolores has her party is described as the ‘Mess Tent’, a reference to Woyzeck’s army background. Mr Stanford’s rooms are called the ‘Studio Boss Complex’. It also notes the ‘Medical Center’ and the ‘Secretary’s Office’. Phoebe controls the characters from her desk and at regular intervals moves a long vertical marker across the board to push the characters forward to their next scene. Underneath the board are maps of all four floors and tiny figurines of each character. As the scenes change, she moves the models to their correct location. Every now and then, she reads a summary of a new scene to Mr Stanford over a two-way radio. Curiously, she’s now speaking with an American accent. ‘I Wanna Hug Ya, Kiss Ya, Squeeze Ya’ by Buddy & Claudia Griffin plays as she oversees the unfolding drama. Her role as puppet master implies another layer of outsider control over a constructed reality, reminiscent of ‘The Truman Show’. She’s like a machinist who has fallen into the machinery and become trapped there. There’s another room next door, with a long table covered in sand and little replicas of the desert sets, including the ‘Red Moon Motel’ sign and a chapel building. Phoebe writes out a note and gives it to an audience member. On it is a challenge to find out ‘where the music plays’. She whispers ‘Have fun’ and pushes him out of the room. She beckons over a woman and tells her to hold out her hand. She strokes it gently before pouring water into a glass. She pours the glass over the woman’s hand, but the water has turned to sand. She tells her to go to the saddle shop and come back later. She gives another audience member a note and tells her to give it to Mr Tuttle. The note says, ‘Knowing what you know and not acting on it, how can you sleep at night?’ She sees a man with red paint on his mask and says, ‘Is Tuttle still alive? Oh dear’. Final Show Trivia Quotes References Category:Characters